1980-D Repunched Mintmark WRPM-005

Description

Among the most exhaustively documented repunched mintmark varieties in the entire Lincoln Memorial cent series, the 1980-D 1¢ WRPM-005 displays a D/D Tilted orientation tracked across five obverse die stages and multiple reverse die stages — a depth of die state research that rivals the most studied doubled dies in American numismatics. Cross-referenced as Coppercoins 1980D-1MM-004, this variety absorbed the former WRPM-007 listing when that entry was discovered to be a duplicate die state of WRPM-005. Obverse die state documentation begins with Stage A, which exhibits concentric die scratches throughout much of the obverse field along with a die gouge south of I in IN. Stage B introduces a die gouge behind the lower bust, barely visible die scratches above E in LIBERTY and running north-northwest from the nose, a faint gouge under IN, gouges in front of the lips and right of G in GOD, a gouge nearly touching the upper right of R in LIBERTY, gouges left of the lower left bust, a gouge at the back base of Lincoln's hair, and a west-southwest to east-northeast die scratch behind the head at ear level. Stage C retains the gouges behind the lower bust, in front of the lips, right of R in LIBERTY, and behind the hair while the G in GOD gouge fades. The head scratch remains visible, and new strong die gouges appear in the field at the level of Lincoln's eyebrow. Stage D preserves the eyebrow-level field gouges and introduces numerous die scratches on and in front of Lincoln's nose, parallel west-southwest to east-northeast oriented scratches north and east of the mint mark, a curved scratch connecting the lower 1 in the date with the front of the bust, a distinctive series of scratches above LIBERTY, and notably no die gouge under the first T in TRUST. Stage E marks the terminal obverse die state — Stage C markers become very faint, a scratch runs northeast to southwest left and above the 1 in the date, gouges appear northeast of the date, a scratch runs east-northeast from the top of R in LIBERTY, a strong gouge develops under the first T in TRUST (absent in Stage D), and new gouges form in the field under ST in TRUST. The reverse die progression is equally remarkable. Reverse Stage A shows a die gouge under U in UNITED, a gouge inside upper C in AMERICA, gouges inside N in CENT and above the right side of N in ONE, a die crack from the right base to the rim, and cracks on columns 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, and 12. Reverse Stage B represents a completely new reverse die — the entire Stage A crack pattern is replaced by a die crack from the left Memorial roof to E in UNITED, a gouge right of U in UNITED, a gouge above the left side of the first T in STATES, a scratch between the lower T and E of STATES, a gouge left of M in AMERICA, a gouge inside O of ONE, and a gouge left of T in CENT. Reverse Stage C develops additional cracking from the left Memorial roof into E in UNITED, light cracks at the right Memorial base and right cornice, a crack at the left Memorial base, a gouge between U and N in UNITED, persistence of the T-E STATES scratch and left-of-M gouge (now weak), a crack on column 2, a gouge under S in PLURIBUS, persistence of the O in ONE gouge, and new gouges above E and left of N in CENT. Reverse Stage D introduces die clash evidence visible in Memorial bays 2, 3, and 4, while the O in ONE gouge weakens. The left roof-through-E crack extends, light cracks appear on left and right Memorial base areas, a fresh die scratch pattern emerges under AME in AMERICA, and gouges inside lower C, above E, and left of N in CENT develop. Reverse Stage E represents the terminal reverse state — the right Memorial base crack extends to the rim, the left base crack likewise reaches the rim, a crack develops from the left cornice through N in UNITED, the Memorial bay die clash persists, a northwest-southeast scratch appears in lower bay 3, and a gouge forms right of the Memorial base under column 11 as die cracks appear on the right cornice and column 2. Earlier markers including the T-E STATES scratch and O in ONE gouge have worn away entirely, and the AME scratch pattern from Stage D becomes very weak. This extraordinary ten-stage documentation across both obverse and reverse represents the cumulative research of multiple collectors over years of study and makes WRPM-005 one of the most comprehensively tracked varieties in the 1980-D RPM census. The 1980-D cent was struck from 95% copper planchets at the Denver Mint. Attribution by the Wexler Team; Wexler Variety ID: 1980-D 1¢ WRPM-005.

Attribution History

• Coppercoins: 1980D-1MM-004 Comments: The original listing for WRPM-007 was discovered to be a duplicate of WRPM-005 and has been added to this listing.; Wexler Variety ID: 1980-D 1¢ WRPM-005
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References